Andrew Coggins
Rocky Mountain West Regional Director
Rocky Mountain West Regional Office
Topic Areas: Business Planning and Marketing, Crops, Pest Management, Soil Health
Specific Areas of Expertise: Field crop production systems, farm business planning, tillage systems and sustainable practices, soil health, pulse crops, NRCS EQIP grants for High Tunnels. Limited livestock experience with sheep, dairy, and pigs.
Andrew Coggins came to the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) in July 2016, having moved to Butte, Montana, from the UK with his wife Kate and three children. During his time at NCAT, he has actively overseen an NRCS EQIP program for the NCAT SIFT farm, constructing two new high tunnels to increase food production, as well as various fruit tree, cover crop, and hydroponic projects. He is also currently re-building a third high tunnel that was donated by an NCAT supporter, which will be used to support the Butte YMCA summer camp program. Andrew has also been involved in several projects involving the Blackfeet tribe, including working with ranchers on regenerative grazing measures, and leading a major project (with project partners) on a Blackfeet feasibility study for a tribally owned processing plant. He recently served on the planning and implementation team for NCAT’s recent Soil Innovations Conference in March 2021, which was very successful. Before coming to NCAT, Andrew worked for 25 years at Unilever’s 1,250-acre research farm and laboratory site at Colworth House in Bedfordshire, UK.. The research farm included trial plots of vining peas, a dairy herd, and a pig unit for trialing animal feed. The main farm grew conventional small seed crops – “combinable crops” – on 800 acres and worked with external research partners on satellite steer systems, minimum tillage work, sustainable production systems, crop and chemical trials, and biodiversity enhancement programs.
Education:
BTEC National Diploma in agriculture, Shuttleworth College, Bedfordshire, UK
Featured Publications and Presentations:
Organic Pulses Production, Economics, and Marketing
SIFT 2020: A Small-Scale Urban Intensive Farm and a Year of Local Food
SIFT 2019: Continuing Lessons from a Small-Scale Urban Intensive Farm
SIFT 2018: Lessons from a Small-Scale Urban Intensive Farm